Amtrak Electrification Advances

April 15, 1992

Amtrak awarded a $300 million contract Tuesday for electrification of the rail line between New Haven and Boston, the first step in a project that could reduce travel time between New York and Boston by an hour or more.

The overall project, which is expected to cost $1.3 billion, is to convert the entire Boston-Washington corridor to high-speed rail use.

Improvements to the New Haven-Boston section are expected to cost $800 million. The 160 miles that run along Connecticut's shoreline through Rhode Island are the only part of the corridor that has not been electrified, required for high-speed trains.

The contract awarded Tuesday went to a consortium of Morrison-Knudsen Corp., of Boise, Idaho; L.K. Comstock & Co. Inc.; and Spie Group Inc.

The electrification, along with the introduction of tilt trains, which can handle the rail line's curves at high speeds, is expected to be completed by late 1997